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celianeale's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think I can find anything to read next that could possibly live up to this masterpiece.
grayjay's review against another edition
5.0
Hollinghurst's other novel The Stranger's Child is one of my favourite books, so I was excited to try another.
This novel was very English, in it's style—class and manners, try to overshadow sexuality and politics in the Thatcher era—but in theme, it is about chosen family, trust, and closeness. How far can we trust others and how much can we really know them or fool ourselves into thinking we know them.
The novel is very sexy but furtive. Nick, the middle class student living with an upper class political family is openly gay with them, but keeps all details of his relationships and sexual life secret. He lives in a strange tension of partial closeting. This novel becomes very sad as the 80s roll on and the AIDS crisis takes its toll. The characters are beautifully flawed, and even when they falter, you feel for them.
This novel was very English, in it's style—class and manners, try to overshadow sexuality and politics in the Thatcher era—but in theme, it is about chosen family, trust, and closeness. How far can we trust others and how much can we really know them or fool ourselves into thinking we know them.
The novel is very sexy but furtive. Nick, the middle class student living with an upper class political family is openly gay with them, but keeps all details of his relationships and sexual life secret. He lives in a strange tension of partial closeting. This novel becomes very sad as the 80s roll on and the AIDS crisis takes its toll. The characters are beautifully flawed, and even when they falter, you feel for them.
dinakhad's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
christylst's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
saranies's review against another edition
5.0
This book could have so easily fallen victim to the worst cliches of the genre, but it didn't. The writing was beautiful and I cared so much for Nick, the main character.
I wish I were more familiar with the work of Henry James, because I think that I missed out on some allusions. I'm fairly well-read, but most of the references were unfamiliar to me.
The book jumps around a little, and it felt jarring at times but gave it a greater sense of reality. I have some questions about what happened to certain characters: did Nick finish his PhD or did he just give it up to be a kept man? What was in the incident in May that made Wadi mostly stop his coke habit? I missed Leo, and I do want to know the details of why their relationship fell apart. Was Nick picking up men in bathrooms when he was with Leo?
I was very nervous that Nick was going to contract AIDS and waste away at the end of the book, and almost stopped reading about halfway through when it seemed that's the way it would go. I am aware of the great loss of life that happened for gay men in the 80s, but I'm weary of reading novels with gay protagonists who have to pay for their new sexual freedom with death. Nick was living in the house of a wealthy and conservative MP who worshipped Thatcher, and the irony of him contracting the disease while under that particular roof would have been too much. This book did a good job of addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis without killing off Nick: his first boyfriend dies of the disease and the man who keeps him (Wadi, his school friend) is wasting away at the end. We're left with Nick confident that his most recent HIV test will come back positive, but that could just be because the rest of his life was going so terribly. Unlike the other unresolved questions within the book, I'm actually glad that we don't know Nick's fate. I like the idea of him continuing beyond the 80s and doing more with what he has.
I wish I were more familiar with the work of Henry James, because I think that I missed out on some allusions. I'm fairly well-read, but most of the references were unfamiliar to me.
The book jumps around a little, and it felt jarring at times but gave it a greater sense of reality. I have some questions about what happened to certain characters: did Nick finish his PhD or did he just give it up to be a kept man? What was in the incident in May that made Wadi mostly stop his coke habit? I missed Leo, and I do want to know the details of why their relationship fell apart. Was Nick picking up men in bathrooms when he was with Leo?
I was very nervous that Nick was going to contract AIDS and waste away at the end of the book, and almost stopped reading about halfway through when it seemed that's the way it would go. I am aware of the great loss of life that happened for gay men in the 80s, but I'm weary of reading novels with gay protagonists who have to pay for their new sexual freedom with death. Nick was living in the house of a wealthy and conservative MP who worshipped Thatcher, and the irony of him contracting the disease while under that particular roof would have been too much. This book did a good job of addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis without killing off Nick: his first boyfriend dies of the disease and the man who keeps him (Wadi, his school friend) is wasting away at the end. We're left with Nick confident that his most recent HIV test will come back positive, but that could just be because the rest of his life was going so terribly. Unlike the other unresolved questions within the book, I'm actually glad that we don't know Nick's fate. I like the idea of him continuing beyond the 80s and doing more with what he has.
sarahrussell's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
djr100's review against another edition
5.0
This is my second time reading and as much as I enjoyed this the first time around, the follow-up was even better! I can’t believe I didn’t give this five stars the first time but making up for that now.
alexisreading23's review against another edition
3.0
Nick Guest finds himself staying at the affluent Feddens’ grand Kensington townhouse for the summer by virtue of his friendship with their young and affable son, Toby, a fellow undergraduate at Worcester College, Oxford. Nick becomes a pseudo-custodian and lodger in their house, watching over their flighty and cavalier daughter, Catherine. Alongside his slightly delicate existence in the Feddens world, Nick, a gay man, begins his foray into the world of cruising and casual sex.
Nick is a bit of a Richard Papen - a bit oblivious, very self-absorbed, and enamoured with beauty, wealth and power. Nick, apart from his covert yearning for the very heterosexual Toby, has a rather strange and disconcerting fetish for black men. It probably goes without saying that the circles Nick finds himself moving in betray some rather sickeningly backward attitudes which are as shocking to the reader as they are casual to the speaker. It is Thatcher’s Britain and the AIDS crisis is creeping into the gay communities that Nick frequents. A time of astounding political action narrated by an enormously apolitical and disinterested figure. This makes for an uneasy but psychologically interesting read. This is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea - it’s only partially mine - but an intriguing approach to narrative and a societal moment that captures the creeping AIDS deaths, the odd cult of Maggie, and the perspective of the hanger-on in upper-class circles.
Nick is a bit of a Richard Papen - a bit oblivious, very self-absorbed, and enamoured with beauty, wealth and power. Nick, apart from his covert yearning for the very heterosexual Toby, has a rather strange and disconcerting fetish for black men. It probably goes without saying that the circles Nick finds himself moving in betray some rather sickeningly backward attitudes which are as shocking to the reader as they are casual to the speaker. It is Thatcher’s Britain and the AIDS crisis is creeping into the gay communities that Nick frequents. A time of astounding political action narrated by an enormously apolitical and disinterested figure. This makes for an uneasy but psychologically interesting read. This is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea - it’s only partially mine - but an intriguing approach to narrative and a societal moment that captures the creeping AIDS deaths, the odd cult of Maggie, and the perspective of the hanger-on in upper-class circles.